Hello Friends, I have a couple of favors to ask of you:

1. Teaching Subs. I am looking for adults to supervise the following merit badge classes. This is NOT heavy lifting and mainly consists of keeping attendance and order. Please see below:

–Tuesday March 27th 6:30-7:00 PM. Some of you know that Derrick lost a close friend yesterday; the funeral is tentatively set for next Tuesday in New York and we need to attend. Two Scouts are scheduled to teach topics from the merit badge booklet (relevant pages are attached). Kevin is teaching about canoe camping gear, and Jeffrey is teaching about knots. Each is to prepare a ~10 minute presentation for their peers.

–Tuesday April 24th, 6:30-7:00 PM. I have had a long scheduled trip this day. Plan is to show the BSA Safety Afloat Training video. You will need to have a laptop, and given the church’s shaky WiFi connection, a MiFi connection would be ideal. You will need a login for my.scouting.org (same as you used for Youth Protection) and launch and show the videos. You may wish to do this on your own ahead of time to prepare

2. We need 2 canoes (+ paddles and life jackets) for teaching rescue skills! Kudos to Robin who has located an indoor pool which will allow us to do this. Do you have one?

Please email me back to let me know if you can help!
Thank you so much for considering it!

Michelle

I am so excited for summer camp! I just got the program guide and have been reading through it. Melon chucking, edible hikes, chalk ball (using archery-like chalk guns), climbing and tomahawks, ziplines and extreme shelter competitions. Plus swimming and hiking and ice-cream glacier building. Fires and axes and cooking outdoors. Archery and shotguns and rifles. And tons of chances for advancement. It is going to be the best week of the year.

I am in the process of registering our group for a week of summer camp at T.L. Storer. We have reserved a campground for July 22- 28.

Harrison, Dante, and Roberto all went last year and are happy to share their stories.

So far the names I have are:

Kevin S
Mark K
Jeffrey G
Dante P
Bianca P
Simon R M
Roberto R
Gabriel P
Nathaniel M

If there is anyone else interested, I need to know asap. This is not a commitment but helps me plan. I won’t do final registration until mid-April, so you have some time to work out schedules. While we can add kids later, programs get filled up and may not be available later in the summer.

Just a reminder that this week of camp is covered by the trust. We are the only troop I know that does this and it is no small gift. We only ask that parents pay a $50 deposit at the time of registration. If your child attends camp this will be returned to you after camp.

So excited!

I will forward more information as I get it.

123 days till camp!!

Yours in S/V,
Jeni

Dear Scouts,

I hope you had a wonderful snow day. This coming Tuesday I will not be at the meeting. I will be on my school break. So Jeffrey our assistant patrol leader will run the meeting.

First of all we will have meal planning finalization conversation with Harrison for the Red Gate Farm trip. Also have an assign MC for the Court of Honor. Also work on Court of Honor things.

Please remember to wear uniform and scout books.

YiS/v

Gwei

Red Gate Farm Packing List
Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Pad
2 Nalgene Water bottles
Head lamp or flash light
Long underwear
Base layers (T shirt, Pants, etc)
Outside layers (Winter Coat)
2 Fleeces or sweaters
Rain Gear (tops and bottoms)
At least five pairs of socks and Underwear (Wool, NOT Cotton)
Winter gloves/mittens
Winter hat and Balaclava
Clothes to sleep in (Can Be Cotton)
Boots that you are comfortable getting dirty
Scout Book
Comfortable clothes/shoes to wear in the evening
Toiletries (Toothbrush, Toothpaste, etc)
Mess Kits
Work Gloves
***Please note that ONLY your sleeping clothes should be cotton, NONE of your base layers should be cotton.***

Optional Items
Book to Read
Sunglasses
Cards
If there are any questions about the trip please ask me.

YiS/V
Harrison

Hello Red Gate Gang!

Just a few reminders for our upcoming trip.

Proper clothing

1) You will need rain gear. pants and a jacket (no ponchos). The weather will be in the low 40s with a good chance of precipitation. This is perfect hypothermia weather. We will be moving around out in the open all day on Saturday. You don’t want to miss out on earning your merit badge because you had to go sit in the dining hall due to being wet and cold.
2) Work gloves… You can find these for a couple bucks at any hardware or big box store
3) For the rest, consult the packing list that our youth leader, Harrison, sent out on Tuesday.

Farm Mechanics Merit Badge

Attached you will find a detailed schedule of our time on Red Gate. At the bottom of the attachment you will see some items that your Counselor would like you to look into before you get there. You will be given your books at the next mtg. Please have the $5.53 with you. Checks would be best…

Permission Slips

The permission slip is also attached. Please bring it on Tuesday. No slip, no trip.

Meal Planning

Due to the last blizzard we did not get to go over our meals for the trip. Harrison, Gwei & Henry put some work into that over the weekend. I would expect an email from Harrison on that subject shortly. I do know that you will need to bring a bag lunch/dinner for Friday evening.

Departure on Friday

We will be leaving St James parking lot at 5pm sharp. We are expected by the farm at 7pm, and we’re giving ourselves a little extra time in case of rotten weather.

That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions please contact either Harrison, Shannon or myself.

YiS/V,
Scott Donaldson

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For any scouts (and adults) who are not going on the April weekend trip, here is the information about the citizen science events happening in Cambridge that weekend. You can help teach others in Cambridge about our local biodiversity by volunteering. Volunteer as a “welcomer,” or a citizen science guide (using the iNaturalist app), or an art guide (helping younger kids create arthropods). High school students can receive community service hours, but kids as young as 10 can serve as “welcomers” alongside an adult. The three events are:

Saturday, April 28, 2018, 1:30-3:30 p.m. Kids, Bugs, Art at Magazine Beach. MAKE A BEE. Rain date Sunday, 4/29 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Sunday, April 29, 2018, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Kids, Bugs, Art at Danehy Park. MAKE A BEETLE. (Rain cancels). ***We really need some volunteers at this session!! -all volunteer roles needed***

Sunday, April 29, 2018, 1:00-3:00 p.m. Kids, Bugs, Art at Fresh Pond. MAKE A BUTTERFLY OR MOTH. (Rain cancels)

The three events are part of the global City Nature Challenge. The Cambridge Wildlife Puppetry Project and Green Cambridge are co-sponsors (along with some other local organizations). The volunteer signup is a google form, here: goo.gl/forms/1ZsdlKgJ38SO79Ex2.

Hima Saini’s Parents

Due to the snow and the parking ban, tomorrow’s (March 13th) Scout meeting is canceled.

Britt RIdeout

Scouts and families of 56,

I will be offering the Canoeing merit badge soon. To earn this badge requires attendance at the following events listed below. This merit badge is excellent preparation for our two upcoming canoe trips in May and June.

EXPECTATIONS
** 5 Classroom sessions. These will be held from 6:30 – 7:00 PM at St. James’s Church just prior to the regular Scout meeting. Because of the short time frame it is very important to be on time. Also the class is largely Scout- taught: Each Scout will be given a topic & expected to prepare a 10 minute talk to be presented to the other Scouts to learn. Failure to prepare your topic means that everyone misses that requirement.

**Passing the BSA Swimmer Test

**Basic paddling lesson

**Learning and performing a canoe capsize and rescue  (2 persons per canoe).

SCHEDULE Continue reading →

I hope everyone is having a fun February Break so far. Remember you might want to try to do some advancement over break because Court Of Honor is April 10th.

There is no Tuesday Meeting because of February Vacation.

See you the following week.

YIS/V
Gwei